Things concerning Jews in Portland and everywhere that happen here and in Israel coming from an American-Israeli.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

The Threat of Death: Ferguson, Missouri and Jerusalem, Israel

Nadene Goldfoot

Ferguson, Missouri's militarized police force

America; land of the free and home of the brave is having its own divide of their population in Ferguson, a city of Greater St. Louis, Missouri metropolitan area with a population of 21,113 as of 2013s census.

After 238 years since becoming a country of United States, there is still a lot of fear between the minority Blacks and majority whites in this country. Religion has nothing to do with the problem here. All are Christian except for Islam which has stepped into converting people held in prisons where it's been easy pickings turning disgruntled prisoners against the people who put them there. Right now that is a moot situation. What is different more than religion is culture and color. It's very easy to distinguish black from white. Each reflect a culture developed on their own and evidently it hasn't mingled much.

We have a a city made up of 64.9% Black minority and 30.6% White majority in a lopsided American city. This means there are 13,754 Blacks and only 6,494 Whites. The USA has 13.2% of the population made up of Blacks and 77.7% made of Whites.

Ferguson has a police force with only 3 Black men on it. It's not revealing a natural balance of the city's population. The police captain said they've been looking for adequate Black men to join them. Is there such a disparaging difference in intelligence, education or just plain interest? Is it for the Blacks like a Jew joining the Roman army back before 70 CE? Whose fault is it that the police force doesn't have Black representation that is adequate? It takes parents to inspire children to become policemen and do things to help them get there. It takes a police force wanting to find such people. Both are balking if you ask me.

The situation causing a possible rumble to happen in moments from now is that a Black man evidently robbed a market. The market is where Michael Brown was accused of stealing a box of cigarillos, before being shot to death by a Ferguson police officer on Aug. 9. Michael was big, a very big 18 year old that nobody wanted to mess with, is said to have been the robber. The notice went out to police cars and one policeman thought he spotted the culprit on the street, walking with his companion. The policeman stalked the potential thief in his police car and messed up the arrest so badly that he shot the 18 year old which killed him. The question that is causing a huge potential rumble is what is going to be decided about the policeman. If he is found innocent, the rumble will begin. To think that racial relations have been upset over robbing a box of cigarillos by a male teen is hard to believe, isn't it? Bad things often start in small ways.

Now the whole city, maybe even the whole state is ready as if a war is about to break out, and indeed, it could be a repeat of past outbursts. People have homes boarded up, extra food laid in their cupboards and freezers as if they will not be able to leave their doors. All are on a state of emergency. They have been told that there are targets that will be hit. It's just like an intifada that's about to start.

Update: I was in California in 1965 at the time of the Watts Riots where Blacks and White fought for 6 days straight which ended with the deaths of 34 people and 1,032 injured. It happened in August, the hottest time of the year in a section of Los Angeles. More riots followed in 1992.

Flash to Jerusalem, Israel, Israel's capital with a population in 2010 at 780,517. Compare its size with Portland's 609,456 or Seattle's 652,405. Compare it with St. Louis's 318,416.

The 3rd intifada is said by Muslims to have started now. The latest following other deadly attacks was the slaughter by 2 young Muslim cousins who entered a synagogue and shot and slaughtered 4 rabbis with butcher hatchets, as well as injured at least 6 other worshipers who are fighting for their lives in a hospital. A Druse policeman was on the scene in 7 minutes and was shot and killed.

This comes after 66 years of Israel's life span. There are 1.7 million Muslims that are citizens of Israel in the state of Israel which sits among 22 Arab states. There are now 6 million Jews living in their state, created purposely for their hope and safety among a world of anti-Semitic people. This was the Jewish lifeboat in a sea of hatred.

They've taken on board others who were able to wish them well, we hope. Nobody held a gun to their head to live there. Many of the Arab's own people had fled from the call by their own leadership. Black in America had no choices. They were brought to America as slaves. They stayed and have suffered anti-Black hatred. Jews have come home and are facing anti-Jewish hatred.

Jerusalem is facing the same situation of readiness. Jews are preparing themselves by being allowed to bear arms in case of attack. Americans also have this law in their constitution and have been fighting to protect it; the right to bear arms. They've never faced times of an intifada to see where it is needed.

In 1929, 69 Jews in Hebron were slaughtered by the call of Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. It spread to Jerusalem. Jews, living in the City of David, where the Jewish king had built the city and brought fame to it, could not live in their own city because another Middle Easterner belonged to a different religion of intolerance, something Judaism hadn't believed in. 133 Jews were killed and 339 were injured. This happened at a time when the League of Nations had already voted that "Palestine" was to be the Jewish Homeland."

We can figure that there will be rumbles in Jerusalem till the year 2186 and more in trying to get 2 very different cultures, one a minority and one a majority to abide each other in all cities. Only 172 more years to go.

About Me

I'm the American Nadene Goldfoot. Another lives in England. I'm the one who went to Israel and lived there from 1980 to the end of 1985. I'm an amateur genealogist for our family who also has expanded interests into dna. I now spend my time writing in my 3 blogs teaching about Israel and defending her position.

On my tree I have found Rabbi Samson Wertheimer, RASHI, and King David through DNA testing. Another branch holds the kings and queens of England by genealogy. When current events become deplorable, I turn to this hobby for a lift. It's all whetted my appetite for ancient history of Israel.